Number of responses to the most recent consultation on the emerging local plan
Dear Fenland District Council,
Under the Environmental Information Regulations, I would like to ask about responses to the emerging Local Plan consultation held in late 2022. I consider this to be environmental information as it relates to development, and a large portion of my request relates to undeveloped land.
I would like to know:
1. How many responses the council received in total.
2. How many of these responses included comment upon the area of land covered by planning application F/YR21/0981/F (which I believe to be site 40284 and Local Green Space LGS 1).
3. (If known) How many of these responses were supportive of site 40284 being placed outside of the settlement boundary and/or the designation of LGS 1 as a local green space.
I am aware that the council may consider this information to fall within an exemption.
Given that there are no concerns here about personal information (I'm merely asking about the number of responses) nor their content, I do not think any personal information exemptions apply. Similarly, I do not think that other exemptions like commercial sensitivity are valid.
The only possible exemption I can see would be 12(4)(d) relating to unfinished documents and material. Although it is the case that the next draft of the local plan, and any report relating to it, remain unfinished/unpublished I do not believe that the data collected during the consultation would fall within this exemption. The data has been collected in a consultation that has completed. In decision FS50163282 (Queen's University Belfast) the Information Commissioner determined that information that has been collected should still be disclosed, even if the intention is to publish that data as part of a future report or project.
Even if an exemption applies, the council should apply a public interest test. This is stronger in the EIR regime than in the FOI regime. The EIR guidance says that great weight should be placed on the presumption of disclosure. The public interest is strong, because it is likely that the planning application F/YR21/0981/F will be determined soon and it would be beneficial for decision makers and the public if the amount of engagement received in the local plan was known ahead of that decision.
Yours faithfully,
Lawrence Weetman
Dear Lawrence Weetman
Thank you for your request for information which we received on 31/01/23.
We are dealing with your request under the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004.
As required by the legislation, we aim to answer your request within 20
working days from the date we received it. If for any reason we are unable
to meet this deadline, we will keep you fully informed of the reasons for
this.
If you have any queries about this email please contact
[1][email address]. Please remember to quote the reference number above
in any future communications.
Yours faithfully,
Freedom of Information Officer
01354 654321
[2]www.fenland.gov.uk
[3]Medium logo 2008 cmyk
How did we do? Visit our website to [4]have your say
E-mails and any attachments from Fenland District Council (the Council)
are confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the
sender immediately by replying to the e-mail, and then delete it without
making copies or using it in any other way or placing any reliance on it.
It is not intended that this e-mail shall constitute either an offer or
acceptance nor is it intended to form a contract between the Council and
the addressee or any third party.
Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the sender and do not
necessarily represent those of the Council unless otherwise specifically
stated.
Although any attachments to the message will have been checked for viruses
before transmission, you are urged to carry out your own virus check
before opening attachments, since the Council accepts no responsibility
for loss or damage caused by software viruses.
Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that, under the EU
General Data Protection Regulation 2016, the Freedom of Information Act
2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and other related
legislation, the contents of e-mails may have to be disclosed in response
to a request.
To provide you with our services we will need to record personal
information, such as your e-mail address. This information will be kept
securely and only accessed by approved staff. We will not share your
information with anyone else without first telling you. If you would like
more details about how we protect personal information, then please
contact our Data Protection Officer.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/
4. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/threecs
Dear Mr Weetman
Further to our email below we are writing to advise that we will be unable
to comply with your request within the ordinary deadline period because
the information requested will take longer to collate. We will then need
to apply the public interest test.
For this reason, we aim to respond by 7^th March.
Thank you for your patience in this matter.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Officer
01354 654321
[1]www.fenland.gov.uk
[2]Medium logo 2008 cmyk
How did we do? Visit our website to [3]have your say
From: foi
Sent: 31 January 2023 15:33
To: Lawrence Weetman <[FOI #944193 email]>
Subject: Environmental Information Regulations 2004 - Information Request
No: 9056
Dear Lawrence Weetman
Thank you for your request for information which we received on 31/01/23.
We are dealing with your request under the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004.
As required by the legislation, we aim to answer your request within 20
working days from the date we received it. If for any reason we are unable
to meet this deadline, we will keep you fully informed of the reasons for
this.
If you have any queries about this email please contact
[4][email address]. Please remember to quote the reference number above
in any future communications.
Yours faithfully,
Freedom of Information Officer
01354 654321
[5]www.fenland.gov.uk
[6]Medium logo 2008 cmyk
How did we do? Visit our website to [7]have your say
E-mails and any attachments from Fenland District Council (the Council)
are confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the
sender immediately by replying to the e-mail, and then delete it without
making copies or using it in any other way or placing any reliance on it.
It is not intended that this e-mail shall constitute either an offer or
acceptance nor is it intended to form a contract between the Council and
the addressee or any third party.
Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the sender and do not
necessarily represent those of the Council unless otherwise specifically
stated.
Although any attachments to the message will have been checked for viruses
before transmission, you are urged to carry out your own virus check
before opening attachments, since the Council accepts no responsibility
for loss or damage caused by software viruses.
Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that, under the EU
General Data Protection Regulation 2016, the Freedom of Information Act
2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and other related
legislation, the contents of e-mails may have to be disclosed in response
to a request.
To provide you with our services we will need to record personal
information, such as your e-mail address. This information will be kept
securely and only accessed by approved staff. We will not share your
information with anyone else without first telling you. If you would like
more details about how we protect personal information, then please
contact our Data Protection Officer.
References
Visible links
1. http://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=17268&a...
3. http://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=17268&a...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/
7. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/threecs
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now
Lawrence Weetman left an annotation ()
I received the following response directly, outside of WDTK:
Thank you for your request for information about which we received on 31/01/23. Your request has been considered under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Please find the information below.
How many responses the council received in total to the Local Plan consultation held in 2022. 1,407
How many of these responses included comment upon the area of land covered by planning application F/YR21/0981/F (which I believe to be site 40284 and Local Green Space LGS 1). 350
(If known) How many of these responses were supportive of site 40284 being placed outside of the settlement boundary and/or the designation of LGS 1 as a local green space. 322 specifically to these two points.
Once again, we thank you for your patience in this matter in allowing our officers further time to collate the information requested.
If you are unhappy with the way the authority has handled your request, you may ask for an internal review. Please contact FOI@fenland.gov.uk who will arrange an internal review of your case. Under regulation 11(2), you must contact us for a review no later than 40 working days after the date of this email.